Category: Festival of Speed

May 24th 2017
Following the huge response to the drift stars and their cars at last year’s Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, more of these lively, smoky and smelly drifters will be returning to Goodwood from June 29th – July 2nd to thrill and delight the crowds once again, this time with a new twist.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons of the sell-out Festival our visiting drift legends will be judged by a combination of public voting and a speed trap on the first corner of Goodwood Hillclimb. From the start line cars will be expected to be travelling sideways by the time they reach the first initiation point, reaching maximum drifting speed through the speed trap and maintaining the drift until the finish line, no doubt with great plumes of tyre smoke.
Of the varied drifting machines to slide up famous Festival of Speed Hillclimb sideways to compete for the title of Goodwood Festival of Speed Drift Champion will be Vaughn Gittin Junior (JR), back by popular demand in his Ford Mustang RTR.
‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett will be making his fourth appearance at the Festival in his rotary-engined Mazda MX-5 Miata, codenamed RADBUL, burning rubber along with Dean Kearney, 2009 Prodrift European Series Champion in his Dodge Viper and James Deane, Drift Allstars European Champion in 2014, 2015 and 2016, driving his Nissan Silvia.
Saturday and weekend tickets to the Festival of Speed are now sold-out, with Sunday tickets limited and Thursday and Friday tickets selling fast. Hospitality packages are available throughout the weekend. To buy tickets or enquire about hospitality visit http://www.goodwood.com or call the Goodwood Ticket Office on 01243 755 055.

To celebrate 110 years since the opening of Brooklands, the birthplace of British motorsport, the Goodwood Festival of Speed , which takes place from June 29th to July 2nd, will play host to an incredible array of cars and motorcycles from the Surrey circuit’s history.

The brainchild of Hugh Locke King, Brooklands was the world’s first purpose-built race circuit. From its opening in 1907 (the first competitive event was staged on June 28th-29th 1907 – 110 years to the day before the opening of this year’s Festival of Speed) until the outbreak of World War II, it hosted some of the sport’s most memorable characters. Assembled with the support of the Brooklands Museum, the Festival class will celebrate the diverse machinery that made Brooklands great.

Because Brooklands’ banking allowed sustained high speeds, it was the scene of many early Land Speed Record attempts, represented at FoS by cars like the Blitzen Benz, Fiat S76 and ‘Babs’. At the opposite end of the size spectrum are the tiny Austin and MG specials, and three-wheeler Morgans, which were a mainstay of club events, while the first British Grands Prix (held at Brooklands in 1926-27) are represented by a quartet of fabulous Delage 15 S8s. Pride of place goes to the Napier-Railton Special, in which John Cobb set the ultimate Brooklands lap record, at 143.44mph, in 1934. Together, they will be a fitting tribute to the pioneering spirit of Brooklands, the bravery of its drivers, and the creativity of its engineers.

With the outbreak of war in 1939, racing at Brooklands ceased, and the subsequent war effort had a permanent and devastating impact on the circuit – not least in the form of a runway that cut through the Byfleet banking. With the legendary Surrey track permanently out of action, the organisers of the pre-war races eagerly sought an alternative. Spitfire pilot Tony Gaze had already suggested to the president of the Junior Car Club, the Duke of Richmond (himself a successful racer at Brooklands, having won the 500 Mile race for Austin in 1930, and the Double Twelve for MG in 1931), that the perimeter track of the Goodwood airfield would make an ideal racing circuit. And so it was that in 1948 the baton of Britain’s motorsport legacy was passed to Goodwood with the inaugural JCC race meeting. The BARC merged with the JCC the following year, moved to Goodwood, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Saturday and weekend tickets to the Festival of Speed are now sold-out, with Sunday tickets limited and Thursday and Friday tickets selling fast. Hospitality packages are available throughout the weekend. To buy tickets or enquire about hospitality visit www.goodwood.com or call the Goodwood Ticket Office on 01243 755 055.

Battle of to great racing stars: Roberto Ravaglia, one of the greatest touring car racers in the history of tin-top motorsport, will make his Goodwood Members’ Meeting debut on March 18-19, going wheel to wheel with Austrian Formula 1 hero, Gerhard Berger, in the Gerry Marshall Trophy.
The legendary Italian, who took two European Championship titles and lifted the inaugural World Touring Car crown with BMW in the 1980s, will tackle the two-driver, two-part event alongside James Vickers in a Belga-liveried 3-litre Ford Capri, a car with superb history.
Commissioned by 1978 Spa 24 Hours winner Gordon Spice for the ’79 Belgian classic, chassis CC13 was built by Dave Cook and Peter Clark of CC Racing and was immediately a front-runner. Spice’s team-mate Alain Semoulin ‘got involved in someone else’s accident’, which dropped the car down the order while repairs were effected. An epic charge back by Spice, during which he set the race’s fastest lap, brought fifth place.
Having raced in a selection of historic series in the intervening period, the Capri is now in the custodianship of James Vickers. Still resplendent in its period Belga livery and having had a comprehensive restoration, CC13 will be a star attraction in the Gerry Marshall Trophy, especially with Signor Ravaglia at the wheel.
Roberto Ravaglia’s major victories include:
1985 Spa 24 Hours
1986 European Touring Car Champion
1987 World Touring Car Champion; Macau Guia
1988 European Touring Car Champion; Spa 24 Hours
1989 German Touring Car Champion (DTM); Nürburgring 24 Hours
1990 Italian Touring Car Champion
1991 Italian Touring Car Champion
1993 Italian Touring Car Champion
1994 Spa 24 Hours
1995 Nürburgring 24 Hours

RACE-FORMAT CHANGES FOR
THE POPULAR GERRY MARSHALL TROPHY
AT THE 75th GOODWOOD MEMBERS’ MEETING
Friday 13th January 2017
Since the revival of the sell-out Goodwood Members’ Meeting in 2014, the Gerry Marshall Trophy has proved to be one of the most anticipated and spectacular races at this annual March event.
For this year’s 75th Members’ Meeting, taking place over the weekend of 18-19 March 2017, the format of the Gerry Marshall Trophy race for Group 1 production saloons of the 1970s and early ’80s will differ from previous years, but with the racing set to be as exciting as ever.
For the first time, the Gerry Marshall Trophy becomes a one-hour, two-driver race. The Group 1 saloons will be taken into battle by a wealth of famous drivers into dusk on Saturday, evoking memories of the legendary Spa 24 Hours, ahead of the evening’s lively entertainment and fireworks.
On the Sunday, the inaugural Gerry Marshall Sprint will form the second-leg of this touring-car epic. Taking inspiration from the current British Touring Car Championship, this race will feature a reversed grid, with the owners taking over, their starting position determined by the car’s result from the Gerry Marshall Trophy.
Only cars running at the finish of the Saturday-evening Trophy race, and those that competed 95 per cent of the Saturday winner’s race distance, will be reversed. All others will start the Sunday Sprint from their Saturday Trophy finish or non-finish position.
Always popular with Members’ Meeting spectators, the Gerry Marshall line-up will include a number of famous Group 1 racing tin-tops, all sporting their correct period sponsor livery, including Ford Escorts and Capris, Chevrolet Camaros, Mini 1275 GTs, Rover SD1s and Triumph Dolomite Sprints, sharing track space with other memorable marques such as Alfa Romeos, BMWs, Mazdas and Volkswagens.
One Group 1 racer expected to make its Goodwood racing debut will be the ex-Gerry Marshall Vauxhall Magnum DTV, in which he took a class victory, and second place overall, at the 1977 Spa 24 Hours. This well-known Vauxhall was sold by Goodwood partner Bonhams at its sale of Historic Motor Cars during last year’s 74th Members’ Meeting, with the car being prepared since then ready to compete at this year’s event. A trio of period competition Ford Capris is also set to race for the very first time at the Members’ Meeting.
Among the many star drivers contesting the Gerry Marshall Trophy will be tin-top favourites Andrew Jordan, Tim Harvey, Patrick Watts and Stuart Graham and numerous other race aces.

Admission tickets for the 75th Goodwood Members’ Meeting are currently on sale to the public in limited numbers and expected to sell-out before the end of January.
To purchase tickets and for the full list of races and demonstrations planned visit http://www.goodwood.com. Photo permission press release